Fabric pulling machine



June 23, 1931 H. M. EATON 1,811,460

FABRIC PULLING MACHINEl Filed oct. 12, 1927 2 'sneetsfsneet 2 Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED. STATES PATENT ori-ica /HOBAGE I. EATON, on' NAHANT, MASSACHUSETTS, BSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF To GEORGE I.. PREBLE, oF L YNN, MASSACHUSETTS :FABRIC 'PULLING MAcHINn Application led Uetober 12, 1927. Serial No. 225,718.

This invention relates to a machine for casting tension upon a flexible strip and more s eciiically to a machine adapted to assist in the manufacture of insoles for welt shoes. My3 copending application Serial No. 214,229, filed August-20, 1927, discloses a new method of manufacturin reinforced insoles, wherein reinforcing abric is provided with av permanently plastic, tenaciously adhesive agglutinant which may be applieddirectly to the leather insole without requirlng heatlng or any other preliminary treatment. Since the heater is dispensed with, it is feasible to use reinforcing strips of various widths to suit various sizes of insoles, thus avoiding unnecessary loss of fabric and affording greater economies in shoe manufacture. While the adhesiveness of the plasticI agglutinant may be varied, it is highly desirable and practicable to provide an agglutinant which has stron adhesion; with material of this character, have found that. it requires considerable force to draw a run of coated fabric from a roll of the same due to the firm adhesion existing between the fabric windin s in the roll. he machine presented by this invention is primarily arranged to ermit the use of Gem duck or canvas of this character which is highly adhesive and yet to avoid unnecessary tiring of the workman who is applying the reinforcing fabric to the insoles. This mechanism is designed to be responsive to a light pull upon the part of the operator so that the use of the improved reinforcing fabric in conjunction with the machine requires less effort upon the part of the workman than has reviously been necessary. The machine is esigned to be particularly compact and to be installed as a unit beneath the work bench that is commonly used in applying the fabric to the insoles. The mecha-- nism 1s so arranged that it cooperates eifec.

tively with the sequence o f operationsvnecessary to this part of shoe manufacture and is readily used by one who has previously been using the manufacturing operations which are succeeded b the process describedin the above-identifie appllcation. Thus the present invention permits the workman to. take hold of the severed end of the fabric strip and to draw the same lightly whereupon Vthe machine automatically will start operation in order to cast suitable additional tension upon the fabric run that extends from the adhesively coated roll, thereby overcoming the effect of the strong adhension between the windings of the roll. Consequently only a light pull upon the )art of the operator is required in order to ring succeeding portions of the duck strip into a position where they may be cnt off and applied to succeeding leather insoles.

Heretofore beca-use of the necessity of running the duck or canvas through a heater, it

forcing fabric in various widths or readily to change from the use of fabric of one width to the use of fabric of another width during the course of manufacture. The vinvention disclosed inthe above-identified copending application, however, permits the ready interchange of fabric strips of various widths or other characteristics in order` to permit economy in the use of reinforcing material. The machine presented herewith is accordingly arranged to be particularly effective in allowing the convenient use of fabric of various widths to suit the particular needs of the operator, thus permitting the use of the narrowest fabric practical for the insoles that are being reinforced.

The above and further objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the subjoined description and claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of one embodiment of the machine forming the subject matterof this invention Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of an element for catching the fabric when it is released from tension;

gig. 4 is a section on line 4.-4 of Fig. 1; an

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail on line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

machine of the type exemplified in the o5 has been impractical to provide insole reinaccompanying drawings preferably Acomprises a supporting plate 1 which may carry all of the various component factors of the machine and which accordingly permits the 'machine to be `a plied as a unit to the under side of a vwork bench or table 2 of the type that is commonly used in applying the reinforci'n fabric to the insoles. Thus this ma-A chine oes not require the use of additional floor space.

with a permanently plastic, 'tenaciously ad-` hesive agglutinant and formed into a roll wherein the adhesive coating upon the inner face of each winding firmly holds the same in engagement with the outer uncoated face of the adjoining winding. Preferabl the pins 9 may support rolls 8 which di er in width or in other characteristics, so that any one of the adhesive rolls may be selectively brought to proper osition to supply the de` sired type of rein orcing strip to the per# `son who is reinforcing the leather insoles.

For this in genera by the spider 6 in its various adj ustedvpositions.

Locking means 10 is shown inV greater detail in Fig. 5 and comprises a pin 11 slidably mounted in the recess 12 in the hanger 4. A compression spring 14 is located between the pin andr the inner end of the recess so that the pin is yieldably pushed outward. The outer end ofthe -pin accordingly is pressed against the hub of the spider 6 and is adapted to en age any one of the depressions 15 therein, 'w ich correspond innumber to the number of pins 9 and are so arranged as to hold one of the rolls 8 in proper position. These depressions preferably. are provided with an inclined bottom portionto permit ready 'ro- Atation of the spider 6 in one direction (i. e. anticlockwise, as shown by the curved arrow in Fig. 1), but are provided with side por,-

50' tions arallel to the axis of the spider, which are a apted to enga-ge the pin to prevent rot tation of the support 6 in the opposite direc- `tion e. clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 1). Thus 1t isonly necessary for the workman to i' rotate the spider 6 in one direction in order tobring any desired roll into proper relation to the rest of the machine to permit fabric -to be drawn therefrom.

-A friction roller is supported upon a shaft 21 that forms an'extension of the axle of worm gear 37. Roller 2O preferably is provided with a peripheral band 24 of material having a comparatively high coefficient of friction, for example soft rubber, and is 65 so arranged in relation to the spider 6 that purpose I provide means designed the numeral 10-in 'order to lock the run of fabric from the adhesive roll 8 may be wrapped abouta considerable segmental portion of the peripheral hand 24 when fed to the point ofuse, whereby the friction roll may have an effective fric-` tional engagement v with the fabric strip.-

Bivotally mounted u on the shaft 21 is a yoke or frame 27 which has .upwardly -jecting arms carrying a transverse ro er 28 at their upper extremities. This roller 28 is adapted to receive the fabric as it leaves the roll l20 and cooperates with the same in effecting the engagement of the fabric surface with a segmental portion of the latter, while permitting thestrip to be drawn in the eneral direction of the surface of table 2 y the workman. The lower portion of frame 27 `is extended to provide ards 30 which are located at either side o the periphery of roller 20 in order to preventlateral movement of the fabric from l its proper position upon friction roll 20.

A suitable electric motor is arranged to,rotate roller 20 in order to cast the desired tension upon the fabric strip leaving the roll 8. This motor may drive lthe roller 20 throu h any suitable means, such as the worm 36 an the worm gear 37 which are supported in the gear box 32. Preferably motor 35 is energized through an electrical line that is controlled by a conventional switch factor 38. The switch is operated by a swinging' lever 39 which isnconnected' to the frame 27 by a link 40. A suitable tension spring 42 norspider 6, i. e. toward thefull proface of this table. When the workman pulls l' the severed endof the fabric strip, the frame is drawn to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the lever 39. is swung to its switch closing position, motor 35 is started,v

and serves to rotate friction roller 20,l which assists in casting tension upon theadliesively coated fabric and in pulling the same from L f the roll 8. A s soon as the workman releases the end of the strip, the frame 27 returned to.' its retracted position .under the action of i spring 42, and the switch is opened by lever 39. Thereupon the motor is stopped and no further tension is cast upon the fabric strip'.

In order to prevent the fabric from slipping yawayffrom roller 28 and sagging between i that portion ofthe machine and roller 20, I provide a plate 50 having sharpened edge portions or teeth 51 which preferably are adapted 'to catch the coated faceof the fabric and to retain the same against downward movement, it being obvious that the initial tension upon the end of the strip will serve to swing operator, therebtending to aid the efiiciency the latter. he sequence of operations necessary on the part of the workman is very similar to those previously required in reinforcing insoles, so that the'new process'of insole reinforcement disclosed in my copending application may be readily adopted without even a temporary loss in efficiency. It is obvious that the provision of a plurality of roll supports makes it possible to adapt the machine to the particular requirements of the facto where it is being used. Thus the various ro ls may consist of reinforcing fabric of different widths or of other different characteristics, or the support may merely carry several rolls of the same character of fabric', if desired, thus serving to keep a large quantity of the fabric in the most convenient position for the use of the workman. Obviously it is merely necessary to rotate spider 6 in order to bring a new roll of fabric in proper'position for use, whereupon the spider will be automatically locked in proper place as soon as tension is cast upon the free end of the fabric strip.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for pulling a run of adhesively coated material from a roll of said material, comprising a friction roll adapted frictionally to engage the run of material, means to impart movement to said friction roll, control means for said first-named means, a rotatable support adapted to hold a plurality of rolls of coated material and to permit rotation of the same, said support being positioned to cause a run of vsaid material to engage a segmental surface of the friction roll, said support being movable to a plurality of positions to supply coated runs of different lcharacteristics to the friction -roll and means adapted automatically to lock the support in each of its several positions.

2. A machine of the class described, comprising a support receiving a replaceable roll of fabric having one face adhesively coated, and permitting free rotation of said roll, a friction roll, a movable frame, said friction roll being frictionally engageable with a run of said fabric extending from said replaceable roll, a portion of said frame above said friction roll engaging the uncoated face of the run, said frame being movable in responsevto tension cast upon said run, driving means for imparting movement to said friction roll, means actuable by the movement of said'frame to control the operation of said driving means, and means to engage said fabric run adjoining said portion of the osition wherein the fabric will i frame to prevent the fabric from sagging away from the frame when the tension thereon is released.

3. Ap aratus for pulling a run of adhesively coated) fabric from a-roll of said material comprising a friction roll to engage a run of the material, driving means to rotate sa-id friction roll, control means effective to start and stop operation of the driving means, a swinging frame having a portion to engage the fabric run after engagement with the friction roll, means yieldably to hold said frame in a normally inoperative position, said frame being movable from said ino erative position under tension upon the fa ric run engaging said'portion of the frame, said control means being arranged to cause operation of the driving means when the frame is swung awa from its inoperative position, and a fixe part against which the frame moves the fabric run to hold the fabric run 1 against movement when the frame is in its inoperative position. y

4. Apparatus for pulling a run' of adhesively coated fabric from a roll of said material comprising a friction rollr to engage a run of the material, an axial support for said roll, driving means to rotate said friction roll, control means effective to start and stop operation of the driving means, a frame mounted to swing about the axial support and havgage the fabric run after engagement with the friction roll, and means yieldably to hold said frame in a normally inoperative position, said frame being movable from said inoperative position under tension upon thev said friction roll, control means effective to start and stop operation of the driving means, a swinging frame extending through an opening in the planar support and having a portion to engage the fabric run after engagement with the friction roll, and means yieldably to hold said framel in a normally inoperative position, said frame being movable from the inoperative position under tension upon the fabric run engaging said portion of the frame so that said portion is disposed above the planar support, said control means being arranged to cause operation of the driving means when the frame is swung to a ling a portion remote from that support to enposition wherein said portion is above the support.

6. Apparatus for pullinga run' of adhe-y sively coated fabric from a, roll of said material comprising a planar support, means as sociated with the support for supporting a roll of fabric beneath the same, a friction roll disposed below the support to engage a run of the fabric, ldriving means to rotate said friction roll, control means effective to start and stop operation of the driving means, a. swinging frame extending through an opening in the planar support and havinga portion to engage the fabric run after engagement with the friction roll, means yieldably to hold said frame in a normally inoperative position, said frame being movable from the inoperative position under tension upon the fabric run engagingsaid portion of the frame so that'said portion is disposed above the planar support, said controlmeans being arranged to cause operation of the driving means when the frame is swung to a position wherein said portion is abovethe support, and a fixed part carried by the support and engageable with the fabric run to hold the latter against movement when the frame is in its inoperative position. 4

7. Apparatus for pulling a run of adhesively coated fabric from a roll of said material comprising a planar support, means associated with the support for supporting a roll of fabric beneath the same, a friction roll disposed below the support to 'engage a run of thefabric, driving means to rotate said friction roll, control meansl'effective to start and stop operation of the driving means, a swinging frame extending through an open-- ing in theplanar support and having apor tion to engage the fabricrun after engages ment with the friction roll, means yieldably to 'hold said frame in a normally inoperative position, said frame being movable from the inoperative position under tension upon the fabric run engaging said portion of the frame so that said portion is disposed above the planar support, said control means being arrangedgto cause operation of the driving means when the frame is swung to a position wherein said portion is' above the support, said frame moving the fabric runlbe tween said frame -portion Aand the friction roll into engagement with av part atthe side .of the opening to hold the fabric against movement when the frame is in its inoperative position.

' Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this 11th day of lOctober 1927. v y

HORACE. M. EATON. 

